Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - PRIMETIME: Iowa Hawkeyes Night Game COVERAGE, Black Friday CBS Window and Matchups EXPLAINED
Episode Date: May 28, 2026Iowa Hawkeyes football release 2026 kickoff times—can Kirk Ferentz’s squad capitalize on high-stakes night games? The Cy-Hawk rivalry with Iowa State returns under the lights at Kinnick Stadium, w...ith Iowa favored by 12.5 points despite pressing questions at quarterback and defensive depth. With unconventional start times and the Black Friday showdown against Nebraska on CBS, fans are in for a season packed with marquee matchups and challenging scheduling quirks. Host Trent Condon provides timely analysis of Iowa’s schedule, highlights NCAA Tournament buzz around Iowa women's basketball with a newly announced home-and-home series vs. UConn, and welcomes Hawkeye men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum. McCollum reflects on the Elite Eight run, roster upgrades—like Andrew McKeever’s pick-and-roll potential and Tyreek Coleman’s fit—and reveals how his approach targets both national contention and home-court excitement. Can the Hawkeyes sustain momentum and energize the fan base for another deep postseason run? Follow Trent Condon on X: https://twitter.com/trentcondon LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-hawkeyes-daily-podcast-on-iowa-hawkeyes-football/id1441592240 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0GTyz5ygevcGXdTF6QSoEo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnHawkeyes Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Kickoff times are out, and Hawkeye fans clear your Saturday night on September 12th.
The SciHawk game headed back under the lights at Kinnick.
We got night games.
Weird kickoff windows, Black Friday on CBS, and his schedule that feels a whole lot bigger.
You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
Hey, welcome in.
I'm Trent Condon.
is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.
Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes,
your first listen every day.
We're going to talk about some scheduling today,
including a big one on the women's basketball side,
as the Iowa women have scheduled a home and home with Yukon,
a potential huge couple of matchups,
and actually ones that are going to be happening on campus.
If you missed it, Ben McCullum joined the show the other day.
We got that full interview for you coming up here.
I know schedules get a little bit weird
and the way that live stream goes as opposed to just our normal feed
that goes out there.
Want to get that out to everybody.
And a big appreciation for Coach McCullum for joining me the other day.
But we begin today with some football and the kickoff times are out for the non-conference
games along with a select few other games.
Now, if you're an everyday listener here of Lockdown Hawkeyes, you know that I have been
intonating that this is likely what was going to happen.
The big one, what's going to happen with the Iowa-Iwa state game, a rivalry that recently
has gone the way of the cyclone, some disappointment, definitely the last couple of
years in the way that this game has gone. Iowa States won three out of four in the series,
but this feels a whole lot different. With Matt Campbell departing, moving on to Penn State,
Jimmy Rogers comes in with a completely new roster, 80 new players on that roster. It was through
the portal. It was through high school recruiting and a whole lot more. It is going to be a
completely different look and has a lot of the same feelings as what we had a couple of years ago
when Matt Campbell was taking over at Iowa State. And that one was an absolute drubbing. Iowa
a dominated four straight possessions, scoring a touchdown as they raced out to a 42 to 3 win.
Now, our friends over at Fanduel do have a point spread out for this one.
Currently, Iowa is a 12 and a half point favorite against Iowa State.
I think that says a lot about the cyclones because, as you know, we still have a ton of questions about this Iowa football team.
But it is so odd coming into a season and specifically on the defensive end of things to have as many question marks as we do.
what's going to happen up front on that defensive line after losing a bunch of starters up there
and a lot of new faces, the lack of depth at defensive tackle and how concerning that's going to be
a likely new starter at middle linebacker coming in with Cam Buffington.
You feel good about the backside of the defense, but overall that front seven has some questions.
And then, of course, offensively with the quarterback, who is it going to be?
Is it going to be Jeremy Hecklinsky?
Is it going to be Hank Brown?
And on and on from there, you'll lose three starters on that great offensive line from a year ago.
The questions are immense for Iowa, but on the Iowa state side, they are even bigger.
This is a team that is almost impossible to handicap to get a feel for what they're going to look like this season.
It is a lot of faces making a big jump in competition.
And let's hope Iowa is ready to go for this one and certainly can cover that 12 and a half
and rub their noses in just a little bit in game number two.
Game number one of the season, the home opener on September 5th, Northern Illinois will come to town.
It is an odd start time.
315, the start time.
Big Ten Network will have the coverage of this one.
Now, one of the reasons that this thing is pushed back from your traditional 230 window that we normally see is because the Ohio State opener also is going to be played at 1130 central time.
Now, Buckeye fans have been complaining for years about those early kickoff times.
Obviously, they are selected a ton for the Big Noon kickoff, which is an 11 o'clock central start time.
and they don't like that very much.
I guess this was maybe a little something from the Big Ten offices,
countowing to what the Buckeye fans wanted.
So they get their start time pushback a little bit,
meeting the Iowa game that goes in the second window on BTN,
also gets pushback 315, but how about that?
Open up the season, a long day of tailgating before we get to see this edition
of the 2006 Hawkeyes.
That is not a bad thing at all.
This is a game I absolutely love every year.
This is the game, the home opener,
season. I always bring the wife and kids along with me. This is the one that the kids get to hang
out of the tailgate for a while, have some fun. It's usually got awful hot. And they're usually
ready to leave by halftime. And then we got to stay longer. And there's some complaints sometimes
afterwards. But get them an ice cream. They're good to go. And we fire away from there. 315 for
game number one. And then the second game against Iowa State under the light, 630 on NBC. National
coverage for that one broadcast window on NBC. Absolutely love that part of it. The one,
problem, and if you're hopeful like I am that Iowa dominates in this football game, is there's
another big game that's going to be happening at the same time. That is the same time over on ABC
that the Texas Ohio State game is going to be kicking off. I think we know where most of the
nation's eyeballs are going to be going, Archmanning going up against the Buckeyes, huge environment,
obviously on ABC down in Austin, Texas. Still, it'll do good numbers and let's see a big victory from there.
would then wraps up the non-conference schedule against you and I.
Another somewhat odd start time, though we've seen more of these, a 3 o'clock kickoff time on FS1
as the Panthers will come to town, a U and I team that is going through quite a transition.
Year number two of the new coaching staff up there coming in from Drake, a lot of new faces
of what they're going to be, certainly this season, and they're up against it.
In the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the amount of money that is being spent from the Dakota
schools and even with North Dakota State departing and making their way out west going forward.
This U and I program, certainly not what it once was when they've had Iowa on the ropes.
You go back to obviously the 2009 season when Iowa needed back-to-back block field goals to hold on
and survive, but we know how good that Iowa football team was.
David Johnson running all over the field and making plays.
There's been some really good Panther teams.
I don't think you're going to see the same addition of you and I coming in from this one.
The game that we already do, the start time, also here, October 9th, that is the Friday night game against Washington on the road in Seattle.
That will be an 8 o'clock central kickoff time for that one.
It'll be either broadcast on FS1 or Fox, depending on what's happening in the baseball schedule.
I believe they'll be in the divisional round if there's a game five.
That'll be at that spot.
But regardless, it'll be on TV.
You'll be good to go or just make the trip out to Seattle.
I heard some great things there.
My nephew went to undergrad at the University of Washington and has told me just how.
incredible it is a little seal gating out there on the water and getting ready for the game
against the Huskies. That'll be Friday night. And that will be the finale of the three
game, just absolute torture chamber that I was going through in the beginning of the conference
play at Michigan, home for Ohio State, then the short week against Washington before they get
a bye week and then go on the road again up to Minnesota. One other start time was announced,
and that is the Black Friday game. Another one that we nailed when we took our predictions
and made our guesses of what's going to happen with the kickoff times.
11 o'clock on CBS, the Iowa, Nebraska, annual Black Friday rivalry,
will be right back where it was a season ago, this time back at Kinnick Stadium.
CBS, you got the national window, not a great slate of games.
Of course, the nightcap that evening with Texas and Texas A&M will be a big one on Black Friday,
but big opportunity there.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State will also be playing at the same time in the Egg Bowl on ABC.
But Iowa gets the CBS window like they do.
did a year ago, and it's good going up against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Winters of 10 of the last 11, the Hawkeyes are in the Black Friday affair against Nebraska.
So that's what we know.
One other thing to also point out, if you have circled the homecoming game.
And I know for a lot of people, that is the one game, maybe they're able to make it to.
They live outside of the area or just as an alumni, they love to come back for homecoming
and all the extras that go along with it.
That will not be a night kickoff.
It falls this year on Halloween.
Iowa, Wisconsin will be played on October 31st,
but if you're hoping for a Halloween night game,
that is not going to happen.
The latest kickoff time will be 4 o'clock.
It'll be part of the 12-day window that we have
with the selection of these games.
So we will have to wait for that one.
We do know it will not start under the lights,
but it could finish under the lights
if we get one of those late afternoon kickoff times.
That's what we know now with the non-conference schedule.
And boy, it feels good.
It feels like football is getting closer as we tick inside of 100 days until the start of Iowa football.
Coming back on the other side with more Lockdown Hawkeyes, Ben McCollum, the head coach, he joins us next.
Stay right there.
This is Lockdown Hawkeyes.
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Welcome into a special edition of Lockdown Hawkeyes.
I'm Trent Condon, joined today by the head coach of Iowa men's basketball,
Ben McCollum, who joins us here today as we talk all things, Hawkeyes.
Coach, good to see you once again.
We had this conversation in the same spot about a year ago,
and things feel, I'm sure, a little bit different than you getting your feet wet last season
leading into year number one.
How's everything this summer?
It's been great. You know, it's nice to not move. So that's been good. And to have a full roster at the specific school that you're at this time of year has been really nice and fairly refreshing. So, you know, hopefully that refreshing feeling will lead to some more wins next year.
Absolutely. Well, a successful season culminating in the elite eight appearance, I was able to make my way down to Houston for that one. And 12-2 felt like here we go, eight minutes to play.
you're eight minutes away from a final four.
You know, as you reflect back to that way the season ended,
so many great moments, obviously the wins against Clemson, Florida,
Nebraska in the NCAA tournament.
But when you look back at that Illinois game,
have you popped in the tape,
have you gone through it again and looked and thought,
outside of maybe adding a little bit more size that you guys have done,
what else could have been different those final eight minutes?
Yeah, you know, I probably haven't watched it enough at this point.
Sometimes it just I need a little time to do that.
I've watched other games, and I did watch the game passively, but not to an evaluation standpoint quite yet, but will before we started our gym workouts.
You know, my guess is, is, you know, when I watch it passively, a lot of the offensive rebounds that we gave up were not from their size.
It was from their guards.
You know, I thought our game plan was actually pretty good, you know, I think just how we defended them.
We forced low percentages, et cetera, but then they were just able to.
able to get offensive rebounds a little bit too easy, specifically from their guard spots.
And then we weren't able to score enough, you know, down the stretch.
So, you know, I think we've addressed some of that.
And, you know, hopefully, hopefully we can get one step further next season.
Let's talk a little bit about when you look back at year number one, highs, low is definitely some disappointing
else in there and some great highs that you guys had throughout the course of the season.
How would you say year number one went overall for the program?
Yeah, I mean, I think when you're building, I think you really have to, just from an internal perspective,
you really have to stay process focused.
And that's what we try to do.
You try not to get high and low.
I know, you lose a game.
You shouldn't lose.
And it's the end of the world, you know, from a fan's perspective and not from an internal perspective necessarily,
because that's sometimes a part of the process, unfortunately.
And if you allow that roller coaster to impact your moods and the way you coach,
I think so often you can't see that good trajectory because the trajectory doesn't just go nice and smooth straight up.
It's still up and down, but it continues to trend the right direction.
And I thought this year we did trend the right direction in a lot of ways,
specifically just getting people more involved in the program,
creating a place for people to be proud of, you know, proud of the kids that we have.
and then obviously I think we got a lot of kids returning that gave a lot of effort and understand the program now.
You look back upon the season and, of course, it's still about building.
You're losing Bennett Sturts who will be a first rounder coming up here in just a few weeks in the NBA draft.
Tavion Banks still waiting a decision, but doesn't seem likely, I guess, at this point,
that he's going to be back for an extra season of eligibility.
You went into the portal, though.
And one thing that definitely jumped out to me is, you know, I started to dig into synergy a little bit and I don't know it nearly as well as,
you guys do over there, but just seeing both McKeever and his ability, not just as a rebounder,
but him in the pick and roll game.
And you guys don't ask a whole lot out of your centers.
You know, traditionally, you have a 7 foot three guy now.
Are you going to be traditionally posting him up a little bit more, or is it playing to the
strength that he has?
And that was definitely in the pick and roll game.
Yeah, I think so often people assume because he's tall, you just post him up.
I think you, the reason you would post up is to get layups right underneath the rim, not
necessarily to back somebody down per se usually you back people down with you know a six seven six eight
guy um you know where it's a little bit more agile physical that kind of thing with with um andrew he's
he's really good uh passer like elite passer elite screener obviously really good offensive rebounder and
it you know from a statistic standpoint i think his postups were um points per possession were like
0.6 or 0.7 somewhere in that range, but his
finishes on rolls was around 1.4 or somewhere around there.
I guess I'd probably have to see it to be sure.
But it was pretty high.
And then on top of that, his ability to pass out of those situations
is high level.
And so just using some of those things the right way
is something that we've really looked to.
And then defensively being able to guard,
you know, just being able to guard defensively
from, you know, whether it's being in a show in ball screen coverage or being in some type of drop,
whatever that may be.
You know, I think you could be really impactful for us.
Tyreek on the other side, Tyreek Coleman comes in from the NBC.
Obviously, you knew the Missouri Valley after you're at Drake and a guy that, you know,
I heard somebody kind of relay it this way, that, you know, if we go back five years ago,
10 years ago, he would have been a Big 10 kid coming out of high school.
He might have been at Michigan State or something like that.
But the way recruiting has changed, the transfer portal has changed.
He had to start out in the MVC.
Another guy, though, that seems to work really well in the pick and roll game.
Yeah, I mean, he's a good player.
You know, I think he's got good length.
You know, I think I always say, like, sometimes you got to get one step ahead of the kid that everybody wanted.
Like, so, for instance, if he spends another year at Illinois State,
does his market become almost impossible to get him?
You know, does he then go average 20?
Or are you one step ahead, one year ahead of exactly, you know, where he should be?
And now he's able to develop in your own program, develop those relationships and continue to grow and get better.
And, you know, we're hopeful that it was the second part of that.
That's how we evaluated him, even throughout the season.
Just the way we play in our style, sometimes it's a different kind of fit for a kid like him.
Do you see him and Kail being able to play together that they complement each other in the back court?
We see both those guys on the floor together a bunch?
I mean, you just, I don't know until the season starts who's going to be on the floor.
So we, you know, we kind of, you know, I, you hope that all 13 guys or 14 guys can play.
You know, I mean, it's, it's one of those deals.
So I don't really think too much into that.
I do know that we've played, over the years, we've played two point guards together pretty consistently,
and we're not afraid of that.
So it can be that or can you go super big and play, you know, play somebody else at the point.
Do you have to play a true point?
You know, can you be more NBA style and play a wing that brings the ball up and play through splits?
Like, you can do a variety of different things.
I don't think we necessarily need to be exactly what we were last year.
We're going to, you know, we're going to change and adjust some things and hopefully for the better.
Well, you're not moving at this time as you were a year ago, but you're still traveling a bunch with AAU terms.
tournaments happening across the country.
And point guard recruiting has definitely been a big one.
I know you can't speak individually about any players or anything like that.
But just overall, how you feel it's going and kind of looking at that class of
2027 and trying to find a point guard.
Yeah, I mean, we're identifying those and, you know, really any position that can play
at this level is kind of our thing.
But obviously, we've really put an emphasis on a point guard and then obviously put an emphasis
on a few big guys or even just, you know,
or big wings, if you will,
and just play a little bit different.
So, you know, we think we're,
we feel pretty good about where we're at with quite a few,
but it remains to be seen.
And it'll tell us more once our team gets here in June
just to see exactly what we have.
And that'll help with the recruiting process as well.
Well, as you learned a year ago when we first spoke,
you know that I'm a huge scheduling nerd.
I absolutely love that stuff.
and I asked you when I saw you over in West Des Moines a couple of weeks ago about it on conference scheduling and how that's going.
I know we got the Creighton game in the books. Of course, Iowa State.
A few of the buy games that are there also.
There's been a lot of rumblings about you potentially maybe locking up a either home and home or even neutral court affair with an SEC program.
Can you break some news for us today, coach?
No, no, I can't break news.
We've got a good schedule.
We've got, I think we're pretty close to finishing our,
you know, we'll probably have around five or six power fives and then the rest will be by games.
And I think we've done a really good job of trying to identify what we need from an NCAA tournament perspective,
but also try to excite the whole state of Iowa.
You know, sometimes it's difficult to get home and homes.
The neutral floors sometimes are a little bit better.
But if you go play an MTE and a neutral floor in California, your fans can.
can't come watch you. So, you know, obviously we played a neutral floor. We're playing a neutral
floor in Des Moines versus Creighton. You know, I think that allows the fans to see us. It allows
a good Power Five competition. Obviously, I think Creighton will be a, you know, a top 25 team. They're
generally are. And so, you know, that's a good deal for the state of Iowa. And so we've tried to
place an emphasis on that with our neutral floors and then still try to get a home at home.
They still try to consistently get those, but those are few and far between.
When it comes to scheduling the buy games, we know the net system in the way that I don't think
manipulate maybe is the correct terminology for it, but you can definitely game it a little bit,
go out there, a beat a bottom rung team and beat them by 40.
That's going to help you out in the net rankings.
When you're looking at that, is it a specific number that you're looking for for those by games?
Hey, we're going to take on a team that's probably going to be ranked in the 320s,
as opposed to maybe somebody in the 150s?
Yeah, I don't know that there's really an exact science to it.
I probably thought there was more of an exact science going into last year.
And I think my opinion's probably going to change every season for the next 10 seasons
until it's like just this clean little process of how to make the NCAA tournament.
But as we learn, okay, what factored into last years, why did that work?
and how can we try to
accomplish what
some of those other teams did.
As we learn that stuff,
we'll adjust our schedule based on those things.
And so, you know, I do think
there's a good mix of Power 5 competition.
I don't necessarily think, you know,
last year I probably would have been complete Quad 4.
I don't necessarily think I'm totally there right now
in regards to that.
I do think you have to make sure
you're careful not to schedule somebody that's, you know, a 75 in the net.
You know, those are dangerous games because they're good enough to beat you,
but it's also a game that you have to win.
And so, but it's also a game that maybe you guys aren't quite excited about.
So, like, there are some things that you're thinking about there,
but, you know, we've dove into the analytics of it.
So, you know, a lot of our scheduling will reflect that.
we're trying our best right now.
But part of that, too, is you have to convince guys to play you.
So it's not like you can just go schedule exactly like Duke can schedule.
Like they get a pick who they schedule every single season.
But, you know, I think we've been able to schedule a little bit better this time around.
I think more people are excited to play us, which is helpful.
You know, and I think our schedule should be as good as it can be.
I want to ask you about a couple other guys going into next season,
including a couple of guys that played as freshmen.
Start with Tate Sage, a guy that, you know,
you just heard his name a couple of times.
I know during the summer last year,
and he kept popping up.
He was the last guy that made the flip over from Drake.
And we're just kind of waiting.
All right, we'll see.
Maybe this is a developmental guy.
Boy, his growth throughout the course of the season,
the link that he has.
And first time I saw him go up, go baseline and dunk,
I said, ooh, there's a little juice to that guy.
Tate Sage now going forward.
What kind of players are he going to be?
Yeah, hopefully a good one.
No, he's,
obviously he really came on down the stretch
you know he came to came came
in big games in particular
I think the
I think there's a few things going into next
year that'll be interesting to see
you know I think guys that saw a lot of minutes
you know particularly Tate Sage or
whoever it may be
there's there's also a transition of
we need you to get better because it
could be a slightly different role
or it could be the same depending upon
how you improve or what happens with the rest of our personnel.
And then there's guys that probably didn't play at all.
Or, you know, we had a couple kids redshirt, had a couple freshmen coming in.
How are those guys going to acclimate and how quickly that'll happen?
So every year is a new year and every year's unique in how we're going to play.
And so, you know, with Tate or just anybody else, it's, okay, so how much better can you get?
What are some things from your game that you can eliminate,
it might have hurt you.
And then, you know, what else can we improve on?
And I have to ask you about Trevin, your rock, got to know the family,
live in the West Boyne District, and call a lot of high school basketball here.
You told me back a couple of weeks ago that Trevis was looking different.
What can you expect out of him?
He just has such a unique offensive skill set for a big guy.
I mean, he's been excellent, particularly offensively.
He's been really good in this postseason, really shooting it at a high level from
three. He obviously has a really good ability to pass. He's a quick processor, all those different
things. Now just trying to figure out from a defensive perspective, can we get him as good
defensively as he is offensively is our biggest, biggest thing now? And he's put a lot of work
into it. You know, he's been in the weight room. He's been conditioning. He's completely changed
his diet. His body is changing. He's pretty motivated. So I'm excited to see what.
what happens with him.
And finally one more, Trey Thompson.
After the redshirt season this year, a lot of questions about, you know,
how he acclimated in year number one, not being able to play, had the, the illness that
took him down for a while.
And a guy that he let it slip, I know, during the NCAA tournament that he was shooting
over 43% during practice from three.
So that excited some people with his size, his skill set, and now going into his redshirt
freshman campaign where you are with Trey Thompson.
Yeah.
I mean, Trey's ball goes in, meaning, you know, when he shoots it, it goes in.
in a lot. And that's a big deal at our level. Obviously, very bouncy. Again, same concept with any
really good offensive player. Can we defensively get him to where he's that good? And he's shown a lot of
flashes and a lot of signs of that throughout the, throughout last season, into the postseason and
whatnot. And, you know, obviously we're excited when we signed him and we're really excited right
now about him coming into next season and just just gives us a different kind of look,
different kind of weapon. And, you know, we're hopeful that he has a great summer as well.
Final thing for you, coach. We're the same age. We've talked about this before. We grew up,
huge Hawkeye basketball fans, what have meant in the state and to deliver what you guys did in
year number one, getting the Sweet 16 for the first time since 99, getting to the elite eight
for the first time since 87, those memories that I don't live with both of us. And seeing the
fan base the way that they jump back in and getting.
into it. I look back to the Nebraska game and just that environment that you had a carver for
that night and that great victory that you had, you know, being an Iowaan and having that
kind of success and doing things that haven't been done for men's basketball. What does that
mean for you personally? I mean, it's, it's cool to hear some of the stories of where people
were watching those games. You know, I think the whole goal of being a college basketball coach is to
have a platform to try to change people's lives. If it's even just give them two hours
of joy where they're not thinking about all the random stuff that goes in our society.
You know, it's, if it's just that, then it's awesome.
If it's bigger than that, like, hey, these are how my kids act, my players act.
This is how the world should act.
That kind of thing, then that's great, too.
Or if it's just me simply going out in the community and shaking people's hands and trying
to make their days, you know, that's, all those things are a big deal.
And to hear some of those stories of, you know,
you know, hey, this was one of the better years of just college basketball because we were able to see this.
That's a pretty cool deal. And those are memories that those people will have for the rest of their life.
And we're excited to be able to provide as many as we can.
Coach, you've had a lot of success in those one and done tournaments throughout the years of D2, Drake winning a game.
And, of course, this year to the elite eight.
What is it about the program and the program that you build year after year that you guys have had that success come NCAA tournament time?
And the quick turnaround time that comes along with it?
Yeah, I think we're able to scout really quickly.
We're able to turn scouts around really quickly because we don't change our defense a ton.
We'll just adjust little nuances.
And then from an offensive perspective, same things.
We just complicate a few things and we're able to perform.
But I think most importantly, we have a level of fight.
And it's winner go home.
And when that happens, you've got to have fighters out there that are able to compete and be able to take these games home.
Ben McCollum, head coach of the Iowa men's basketball team, getting ready for year number two.
Coach, appreciate the time as always good catching up, and we'll try it again here before the season begins.
Yes, sir. Thanks a lot.
Thanks once again to Coach Ben McCollum for joining us here, Lockdown Hawkeyes,
and interview from earlier this week, again, went live with that one.
So I know the things are a little bit different when you get into YouTube for the people to watch there.
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Wrapping things up today.
The Iowa women's basketball team has scheduled a home and home with the premier program
in women's college basketball, the 12-time champion.
Yukon Huskies. Now, we saw this game out of neutral floor a year ago. It did not go very well for Iowa.
A lot of turnovers in that game. We definitely saw the improvements, though, from that squad throughout
the course of the year. But getting this game, getting it to be a home and home is absolutely huge.
Now, they'll go out to Connecticut this first year. It'll be either in Hartford or in stores,
kind of depending on where they decide to put that game as they have kind of a funky arrangement with
the way that they do things. But then the following season, it'll be back in Carver, Hawkeye Arena.
a pretty big coup for Jan Jensen and the staff.
I know Abby Stamp does a lot of their scheduling.
Big kudos to them,
getting this one and getting it to be at home,
a home and home, a true home and home,
something that is missing too much, unfortunately, in college basketball.
We'll be back with you tomorrow.
Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes,
your first listen every day.
Until then, go Hawks.
